...is it just my way of thinking, or is releasing a major franchise title like this, in a month like March, when nothing else is happening, as opposed to during a major buying season, like Christmas...isn't that a bad marketing strategy...?

Probably won't actually be playing the game until next Winter break...

...is it just my way of thinking, or is releasing a major franchise title like this, in a month like March, when nothing else is happening, as opposed to during a major buying season, like Christmas...isn't that a bad marketing strategy...?

Well, even Crystal Bearers comes just on the 26th, instead of the prime shopping season before Christmas Day. Actually, Final Fantasy X was the same way in 2001, but it got moved a week earlier just at the last moment.

If Square could release these games earlier, they would, but sometimes time just isn't on your side, and Square has had a lot of delays and long development times lately.

Anyways, I tried the site and it was really buggy, playing the tracks on top of each other, not working with the stop button, etc.

Neither the music nor the presentation on that site give me any inclination to buy the soundtrack. If they're going to tease the soundtrack to people, offering snippets of the first ten (mediocre) tracks of a four-disc OST via a buggy Flash music player isn't the best way to do it.

There is at least one exceptionally good track (#5 Blaze Edge) within the first ten tracks, but yeah, I don't think a sample this short would attract too many people. The color contrast between 5/8 and 6/8 is just stunning, but I wonder if the rest of the score is as good as this track...

Neither the music nor the presentation on that site give me any inclination to buy the soundtrack. If they're going to tease the soundtrack to people, offering snippets of the first ten (mediocre) tracks of a four-disc OST via a buggy Flash music player isn't the best way to do it.

Yeah, I agree with you. I thought that the battle theme sounded improved, but the rest are definitely "mediocre."

The samples really dont matter very much. They could have 10 wonderous songs or 10 mediocre songs and at the end of the day you still wouldnt truly know what the soundtrack sounds like favorable or not. The ost is so massive to try to pick a handful of songs is way too misleading. On that note I already pre-ordered it. I look forward to what Masashi Hamauzu does as the man in the lead. Over the years Uematsu's influence has been waning and he got some help over time. To have composers take over as lead is a bit exciting as I really enjoyed Sakimoto's stuff last time.

I look forward to seeing what he really brings to the table.

Edit: So actually checking out the 10 songs I see that track 1 & 2 are pretty much introductory orchestral trash.

Any of the songs that feature the piano driving the main melody are pretty enjoyable overall. I have to say the out of the samples that track 5 is hands down the best track for me. I died when the low brass boomed in at the end and the song stopped.

I buy most of my stuff from there although shipping can be expensive ($10 for the first item and $5 for every item after that but its guaranteed EMS)

or you could go to playasia.com

The only thing I dont like about that is if you preorder something over there they don't take the money right away. Instead they bill you when they send the ost to you and for me they might overdraft me

If you have Paypal, cdjapan.co.jp is a nice place to preorder. They'll take your money when you preorder via paypal. That's the place I usually go to preorder stuff anyway. Usually, if I preorder soon enough, I get it anywhere between 3 days before release in Japan and the day of release in Japan, using EMS.

Hearing the ten samples has not really instilled much confidence in me. I'm hearing a lot more of the Hamauzu that I've never liked (yay, random bashing on the piano!) and not enough of the one who did some of my favorite tracks in FFX. I have a feeling I'll be waiting until I've played the game to decide whether or not the soundtrack is worth a purchase.

Well, even Crystal Bearers comes just on the 26th, instead of the prime shopping season before Christmas Day. Actually, Final Fantasy X was the same way in 2001, but it got moved a week earlier just at the last moment.

Funny thing, there's a rumor going around that the same thing may be happening with Crystal Bearers, and some stores already selling copies.

Apparently Gamestops are sending out notices that the game will be in this week (Crystal Bearers). Forcing myself not to pick it up right away since my backlog is still vast and horrible.

You might want to try renting this first, or prioritizing your backlog until Crystal Bearers becomes cheap, because I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it.

I've played about 4 hours of the game until I lost all interest and never went back.The crux of the gameplay (picking up and throwing stuff) is simply not enough fun to last the whole game, not to mention it sucks as a battle system in itself, and you can tell Square was on to this because they throw dozens of pointless and random mini-games at you (not optional, I might add) to desperately try and add some variety.

I just finished the game, and had such mixed feeling that I'm not sure the soundtrack is worth picking up in my current bad financial state. It basically worked good in the game despite some clearly out-of-place assignments (e.g. a bluegrass track for a serious scene. and the final boss theme was...). Frankly though, neither the soundtrack or the story wasn't the strongest part of the game which otherwise was unexpectedly pretty good. It was the first numbered Final Fantasy with the streamed audio, but I don't think it turned out to be something ground breaking as hyped. But yeah, when it comes down to Hamauzu (the guy who has been just approved by 95 percent of VGM communities for a decade), few people would share my taste.

To his credit, it's sometimes surprisingly experimental and unconventional for such a big title, and at least less lifeless and boring than Dirge of Cerberus. I'm going to revisit the game, and some area themes may grow on me (they were generally so beautiful and just didn't catch my ears when playing). Overall, this is not so bad, and not particularly good, either. The two sloppy J-pop songs were even not worth talking.

Not funny. The regular battle theme (2-01), The Sunleth Waterscape (2-16) and the theme of Oerba (either 4-09 or 4-10 on the soundtrack) are among the most popular tracks according to the mass reception.

Ｉ wonder if Hamauzu are really the arranger of these two Chocobo tracks.

I like most of the tracks, although I'm especially partial to the final battle themes and anything that has to do with the main theme (hence why I like the Waterscape). It's the best video game score I've heard in years.